Guided Tours -Would You, Have You, Where?

[Prubangboy]

I booked 2 tours with Intrepid Travels, Morocco for 18 days, and Oman for 7. Morocco is tourist-hassle hell, but there's a lot I'd like to see there and guided program would keep that at bay. Oman independent travel is hard.

 

For a lot of countries, 2 days per destination, times 5-6 places, a tour makes sense. India is a good example. Even places like France and England have mostly 2-3 day towns once you leave the capitol. 

 

Intrepid Tours is mid-priced, Lonely Planet ethos, and very socially conscious about dragging you to the women's weaving collective, which suits me fine.

 

Going down that rabbit hole, I see that you can easily spend $1000 a day in Antartica and The South Seas. Safari's and Machu Picchu are also big $$$ draws. Wine drinking in Europe has a lot of offers. Papua New Guinea would be my ultimate get, but I am too spooked by the crime factor to pull the trigger. 

 

If money was no object, where would you go? What would make a tour palatable or a deal breaker for you?

 

If you had a free $1,000 a day budget, and you had to spend it down to zero each day, how would you do it?

[scubascuba3]

I had a guided tour on safari in South Africa, also a cycle trip across South America, do those, no need for 1k a day

[OneMoreFarang]

I think my last guided tour was an hour or two in Prague in the snow. I liked it.

 

 

[worgeordie]

I have not and would never go on a guided tour ,I was always an independent traveller,

and it must be a lot easier to do this now with Internet ,than when I was travelling around 

40 -50 years ago, 

 

Camping next to the Pyramids ,Egypt,  Wandering around  Chichen itza ,Mexico at dawn,

 Morocco ,Marrakech as with most Arab countries kids looking for money is a problem,

did 3 weeks in Papua New Guinea , hired a car and drove from Port Moresby to Mount Hagen  ,

the hire guy ,says if you run over a person ,stop and help them ,if you kill a pig ,don't stop

put your foot down or they will kill you..sitting waiting for a truck to take us down to  Baiyer

river sanctuary to see  Birds of Paradise ,this old guy , feathers ,@rse grass,bow arrows,with

spear wanders up ,and starts poking my daugthers stuffed lion with his spear ,I had the wife

and kids with me. there was lots of barbed wire around houses , but had no problems ,with

the "Rascals " as they call them ....now ? ,with everyone so materialistic ,people want what you have 

 

this is all 40 -50 years ago ,I am sure things have not improved ,but pleased I seen the World

when I did ,been to 65+ countries never really had problem with anyone , nothing stolen ,talked

my way out of situations , only 3 more places I would like to visit , Madagascar ,Michu Pitcha ,

and Easter Island , I don't think I will get there , but always in hope ..

 

regards Worgeordie

 

[soi3eddie]

Normally I research and tour by myself. Sometimes it is easier to arrange a private guide (not a big group tour) to avoid tourist traps, scams and ease language barriers. I found that the experience of all below could not be surpassed doing it solo. Got to experience places that would have been unlikely if not using a guide. I would not use a mainstream big name company, rather these were all by recommendation or found online. 

• Food tours in; Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Nice and Yangon. 
• Bicycle tour in Bangkok and Tokyo.
• Walking tour in Tokyo with free guide
• 3 days with a tour guide in Yangon.
• 7 day private escorted tour in Egypt - antiquities, museums, Nile cruise and food tour.

 

[Prubangboy]

18 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

Food tours in; Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Nice and Yangon. 

• Bicycle tour in Bangkok and Tokyo.
• Walking tour in Tokyo with free guide
• 3 days with a tour guide in Yangon.
• 7 day private escorted tour in Egypt - antiquities, museums, Nile cruise and food tour.

 

 Back out the life-threatening biking and I've done all that. Will do a foodie walking tour in Marrakesh. For a solo traveler, these little meetups provide a blast of sociability.

 

It was $20 a day with a driver in Yangon. 3 days is about right for Yangon.

 

Done Madagascar. Def some 5 star lemurs on offer, but you get murdered if you leave your resort at night. I say worth it if you have animal check list.

 

Egypt, I would def do on a tour. The hassle-factor is supposed to be the worst; many funny YouTubes about it. Ethiopia is legendary for getting rocks thrown at you. Haiti was the ultimate stare-athon. Pakistan is a pricey tour where they'd also be keeping the starers at bay. Some back-breaking but stunning hikes on offer there.

 

In Papua New Guinea, a tourist resort was ransacked, out of the blue. It's an unfathomable tribal thing that just wells up. Intrepid Tours has a thou a day visit to a festival in September. If it were only $500 a day, I might be willing to risk my life.

[uttradit]

Did only 1 guided tour longer than 5 days, never again. Just far too structured sitting on buses with the same people and lots of early mornings. The best tours are no more than 3 days. No interest in Morocco or Oman. Looking at old stuff wears thin. 

 

 

[Prubangboy]

20 minutes ago, uttradit said:

sitting on buses with the same people 

 

 

Def agree.

 

My wife loves this kind of stuff. I always fob the small talk duties off on her. I'm about to find out how long 18 days can be.

 

I'm doing Oman solo. $500 extra for a room alone? No prob. 

 

 

[proton]

Last one Sept in Naples one of those walking tours for tips, far too many people turned up, meant to be 20 ended up with 35 walking around those cramped lanes. Place is a total crap hole so did no enjoy it at all. Had another one in Venice and the same thing happened- they don't go back to the start it just ends and you have no idea where you are.

[uttradit]

1 minute ago, Prubangboy said:

Def agree.

 

My wife loves this kind of stuff. I always fob the small talk duties off on her. I'm about to find out how long 18 days can be.

 

I'm doing Oman solo. $500 extra for a room alone? No prob. 

 

 

I did 16 days, 9 days too long. After a week the early mornings and same boring people made it suck. Never again unless free and I would want free flights too. Good luck for 18 days, hope the group is ok.

[Prubangboy]

1 minute ago, uttradit said:

boring people made it suck. 

When people are really awful and obtuse, and I am not at their mercy, I sort of love it. Just like I enjoy a few laughs here.

 

Like when I went on the cruise filled with Black Trumpies? Def a good time. The KISS KRUISE was another wallow in stupidity.

 

I'll get the gentle kick under the table when I troll too much.

 

We opted out of the camel ride. Citing animal rights. Which everyone will believe with a straight face. 

[uttradit]

4 minutes ago, Prubangboy said:

When people are really awful and obtuse, and I am not at their mercy, I sort of love it. Just like I enjoy a few laughs here.

 

Like when I went on the cruise filled with Black Trumpies? Def a good time. The KISS KRUISE was another wallow in stupidity.

 

I'll get the gentle kick under the table when I troll too much.

 

We opted out of the camel ride. Citing animal rights. Which everyone will believe with a straight face. 

Guided tours have lots of included meals too. That also sucks. Rather walk a city and find my own meals. I only liked 4 out of 35 people on the tour.

[Prubangboy]

9 minutes ago, uttradit said:

included meals too. 

 

9 minutes ago, uttradit said:

 

Worse: Cooking school. Twice. We actually owned a tajine pot back home.

 

Bottom line: Have always loved Moroccan art and music, partic. the Gnawa music. We get a Gnawa show out in the dunes. 'Can't complain. At those prices, those will be some semi-name Gnawa.

 

Tour tops out at 15 people. Liberal urbanites, all. It's the flavor I escaped from. It will be a little weird to be back among them.

 

There's a lot of shopping too. That's when I'll go off to eat.

 

What's the diff between 2* and 5* Moroccan food? About twenty bucks.

[thaibeachlovers]

22 hours ago, Prubangboy said:

I see that you can easily spend $1000 a day in Antartica

No one can go to Antarctica without being on an organised tour or suchlike. Speaking as one that spent a year there the idea of just going solo ( if it is even possible, which I doubt ) is akin to suicide, except for experienced Antarctic explorers.

 

Unless the cost is insignificant, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, but as I got to see more than most, I may be blase about it.

I loved living there, but for a holiday I'd prefer a Thai beach.

[thaibeachlovers]

I did loads of guided tours in LOS, and happy with most. Best one was probably the two week bus tour from Singapore, but plenty of short ones too.

 

The absolutely worst was a river cruise, horse drawn carriage tour to ruins near Chiang Mai. Decrepit boat, decrepit pier, half starved horse, no commentary.

Chiang Dao day tour in a van with young farang tourists was pretty good though.

 

End of the day, I went places on tours I'd never have gone on my own.

[Prubangboy]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

 

 

The absolutely worst was a river cruise, near Chiang Mai.

 

End of the day, I went places on tours I'd never have gone on my own.

I'm doing the Ping River cruise soon and will report back. These days, it's two hours downstream to a wooden farm house who's been phoned ahead to to have some Khao Soi noodles ready. Reviews say it's top tier soup.

 

The see a bunch of stuff-aspect def appeals. I generally don't care one whit about crumbly old ruins, but if they're spoon-fed to me and I'll do 3 other things that day, I can see why the tour mark up is worth it.

 

It needs to be a ping and pong-type place like China or France with a lot of compelling destinations. It doesn't work for Thailand since there's not a lot for a tourist between Bangkok and Chiang Mai. It's about $300 a day for a SouthEast Asian tour that hits those two, Ha Long Bay, Luang Prubang, and Angkor Wat in 16 days.

 

A lot of timid trust fund kids take the SEA tours, partic Americans. These are the people who've moved up from flash packer hostels. I stayed at The Sanctuary Resort on Ko Phagnan, on which The Beach was based. So that was another hippie level up. Alternative travel is a broad church and a huge market. Lonely Planet changed the world.

 

In Oman, there will be pretty much nothing. They're selling their nothingness. Who goes on a nothing-tour? Anyway, it sold out.

 

 

[Prubangboy]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

No one can go to Antarctica without being on an organised tour or suchlike.

Would love to hear about your year there.

 

The most expensive Antartica tours involve flying in and boating back. The Drake Passage is rough sailing to do both ways. If you want to really burn money, The Falkland Islands add-on is only available above a thou a day, Georgia Island is another premium place since they can guarantee proper penguin swarms,

 

Machu Picchu and Antartica as a package is about $20K on the cheap side. An Igauzo Falls add-on is only $2K more for 3 days. The North Pole costs about double of The South Pole.

 

It's all about the add-ons. Kayaking? $200 more. Per day. Nature photog lessons are about the same. Hot air balloons are the craziest mark up in tour-dom. Mono-priced fixed at $500 worldwide.

[1FinickyOne]

Bhutan

[Prubangboy]

32 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

Bhutan

Done it. A lot of nature, very green Himalaya's, so-so temples, the famous town with all the penis paintings. Basically, a classier Nepal. For  Little Buddha-like exotica, Mustang and Dolpo were better. Sikhm too. 

 

Food: the national dish is home fries with a lot of chili peppers. People: as cheery as advertised, zero interest in you. Nothing to buy but nice incense.

 

Currently 50% off. Problem: $1,600 round trip flight from BKK on government monopoly Druk Air.

 

And like all tours, they charge you for a full day on the last day when all they're doing is feeding you breakfast and pushing you out the door.

[LarryLEB]

In 1983, I did all my own planning and bookings for a 6-month trip:  Canada to Tokyo to Hong Kong to Bangkok to INDIA to Bahrain to France to England, then back to Thailand.  No Internet, of course, so I spent a lot of time with the OH&R Guide ("Official Hotel and Resort" Guide).  I phoned the hotels myself and booked my own rooms.

 

I decided that the easiest way to see a lot of India was to book a guided tour for my 14 days there.  However, I booked a tour with a private car and driver, and with a private guide.  Travel between cities was by air.  I got to see a lot of India and in the kind of detail that I wouldn't have been able to alone.  It turned out that I was a tour group of only one person -- me.  I met other people on the same itinerary with the same tour company -- they travelled together as a group, and on the same flights.  The first flight was from Bombay (didn't become Mumbai officially until 1995) to Jaipur.  I got to know one couple from the  USA very well, and we kept in touch afterwards.

 

I had only two nights in Bahrain, so I booked a day tour there, which was going to be cancelled since I was the only one to book (a minimum of two was required).  So, I told them I would pay for two, and the tour went ahead.

 

From 1983 to 2011 (when I retired to Thailand), I spent my two-month annual vacations in Asia.  During that time, I did the following one-day tours:

• Ayutthaya, Thailand
• Tokyo, first day there to help get oriented
• Seoul, during a mandatory two-night stopover between flights

The above tours were the tour-bus type.  I wouldn't want to do more than one day by tour bus.

 

There was one more guided tour during this period:  a four-day tour of Angkor; this time by private car, driver, and guide, again. 

 

Until 2015, those were the only guided tours that I took.  In 2015, '17, and '19, my partner and I spent about 2 weeks each time in Japan.  We did several one-day guided tours:  Nara, Kyoto (three different times), Nikko, Kamakura, Tokyo, but it was just the two of us and the guide -- no group.  The guides were local people, experts, certified guides and very knowledgeable.  These tours made sure that we got to see what were the most important sites for us; and we were able to get answers to all our questions:  a great time!  More pricey, but customizable, and far more informative and pleasant than a group tour would have been.  In our opinions, good value for money.  The rest of the time we were on our own (easy to plan out with the Internet).  

 

In summary, I find that guided tours can have their uses, even though nearly all of my travels have been done without a guide or a tour.

 

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, Prubangboy said:

I stayed at The Sanctuary Resort on Ko Phagnan, on which The Beach was based.

Hmmmmm. Have you read the book and was there any comparison between The Sanctuary and the book version eg, was it completely covered by trees to make it invisible from the air? To be authentic, the visitors to The sanctuary would have had to go spear fishing for their food and smoke copious amounts of dope.

I'm in two minds if it has a basis in fact or is just clever marketing. The below is hardly convincing evidence, though the dates of starting are the same, and The Sanctuary had a long house just as the book did.

 

https://www.2oceansvibe.com/2020/11/17/real-story-behind-island-community-that-inspired-the-beach/

Asked whether Garland actually visited The Sanctuary, [one-time resident Michael Doyle] says, “I have a fuzzy memory of a guy hanging out in a hammock and just watching the flow of life for a couple of weeks in the mid-’90s. And I can put names to a few of the characters in the story, so there’s that. It didn’t click so much with the book as with the film.”

 

"It didn’t click so much with the book as with the film.” is what makes me sceptical. Basically the movie had little in common with the book. Also, Garland was not, far as I can discover involved in any way with the movie, other than drawing Daffy's map. Certainly Doyle bent over for DiCaprio and ruined the entire premise of the book, just because DiCaprio wanted to nail the girl.

I've read the book twice and saw the movie 6 times when it came out, and also on DVD. I've also researched the making of the movie extensively, and the book is by far a superior version, though I watched the movie for nostalgic reasons.

 

As an amusing aside, the character Richard of both book and screen despised the sort of tourists that went to Full Moon Parties, but

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/thailand-the-sanctuary-koh-phangan/index.html

Behind the project were two Koh Phangan residents, Gill Beddows and Steve Sanders, who decided to establish The Sanctuary after becoming annoyed with ongoing commercialization in the Hat Rin scene.

“In Hat Rin we ran a café, and we were involved in the big parties,” says Beddows.

 

 

[gomangosteen]

Two guided cycle tours about 10 years ago from Phnom Penh with 'Vicious Cycle', well-organised and and an excellent group leader - same one both times. 

 

My lasting memory was having to be reminded which side of the road ... off a dirt track then oops straight into oncoming traffic. Later did a self-funded tour on one of their hire bikes. 

[Prubangboy]

The Sanctuary fetches $400 a night, so commercialism won. Lovely resort of the rich hippie type. Was last there in '97 prior. You have to really take advantage of the yoga or book a colon blow out to justify it. 

[thaibeachlovers]

3 hours ago, Prubangboy said:

Would love to hear about your year there.

No problem. I was based at Scott Base in the 70s. Flew in on a Hercules plane with skis for landing on the snow. Soon as arrived was put in the back of a truck and driven to the base which was quite primitive, having been constructed to last just a few years in 1957 during IGY. Water was melted glacier ice, and showers were about once a week during summer. No tv or radio, and obviously no internet. Main after work entertainment was the bar, and also going over the hill to the American Base of McMurdo. They had a big desalination plant and showers any time. They also had a large US Navy contingent which maintained the base ( time in Antarctica was counted as sea duty ) so had all the various bars for sailors, NCOs and Officers, plus the civilian bars. We were allowed to visit any of them. Americans do know how to party! They had about a thousand on base in the summer, we had about 100 at capacity. In the winter, we had 11 and they had about 100. We had huskies and a ski tow though, so IMO we were better off. We had 2 women on base, only in the summer, but they had loads in summer and 1 in winter- that led to some interesting times!

 

I was maintenance, which involved a lot of outside work, which could get quite cool, though Canadians would have been fine. About a max of -4 C in summer, and a minimum in winter of about -50 C, if I remember correctly. Base was maintained at 15 C. Storms from the south were exciting, and in the winter we had a lot of auroras.

 

In winter we had a movie every night, though I spent a lot of time over at Mac 10 pin bowling, playing volley ball, enjoying movie marathons with as many hot dogs and soft icecream cones as wanted. They also had a sauna- lovely.

Getting to sleep was a problem,as insomnia is common, and the sleeping quarters air supply was humidified as the air had no natural humidity. Antarctica is officially a desert as it has so little precipitation. We had loads of snow, but it was very old snow and it never actually snowed. It just blows around in storms.

 

Complete darkness for 8 weeks, and most of us went up a hill to see the first sunrise, when it just peeped over the horizon.

 

After that it was just getting ready for the summer arrivals, and then back to the real world with strange green stuff ( grass ) and I could look into the wind without getting frostbite.

 

Best year of my life, and still miss it.

[thaibeachlovers]

4 hours ago, Prubangboy said:

I'm doing the Ping River cruise soon and will report back.

I did that twice. first time was great, second not so much. Different farmhouse as we went up stream.

[uttradit]

On 2/13/2024 at 10:23 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

I did loads of guided tours in LOS, and happy with most. Best one was probably the two week bus tour from Singapore, but plenty of short ones too.

 

The absolutely worst was a river cruise, horse drawn carriage tour to ruins near Chiang Mai. Decrepit boat, decrepit pier, half starved horse, no commentary.

Chiang Dao day tour in a van with young farang tourists was pretty good though.

 

End of the day, I went places on tours I'd never have gone on my own.

There's a craft beer place with great burgers in Chiang Dao. If I was running tours from Chiang Mai I'd include things like that. Normal tours take you to cave then some crappy restaurant nearby.

[StayinThailand2much]

Joined some awesome tours in Australia's Northern Territory and all the major cities in Oz, but also in New Zealand. Had a knowledgable tour guide for a great sightseeing tour in Hanoi.

[Prubangboy]

59 minutes ago, uttradit said:

If I was running tours from Chiang Mai 

A pipe dream of a lot of potheads here is to have a pot tour: they take you to a pot farm, they take you to some pot places.

 

Problem: Pothead only want to spend money on pot.

 

A pot tour is pot-money thrown down the pot-drain.

 

 

[uttradit]

2 minutes ago, Prubangboy said:

I hear a pipe dream of a lot of potheads here is to have a pot tour: they take you to a pot farm, they take you to some pot places.

 

Problem: Potheads want pot. They only want to spend money on pot.

 

A pot tour is pot-money thrown down the pot drain.

The only ideas that work appeal to the masses unless you do boutique tours and charge a lot more. Premium pot tour not sure works. Beer premium tour might. You need Thais for licences. Lots of tours are cross promoted through Intrepid.

[thaibeachlovers]

13 hours ago, uttradit said:

There's a craft beer place with great burgers in Chiang Dao. If I was running tours from Chiang Mai I'd include things like that. Normal tours take you to cave then some crappy restaurant nearby.

Many apologies. I confused Chiang Dao with Doi Inthanon. I visited Chiang Dao many times with my wife, but never on a guided tour ( except in the cave ). We drove in her car. Doi Inthanon was after we got divorced, so more car.